


Stubborn

by Takada_Saiko



Series: Fallen [29]
Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, confessed feelings, lots of Bobo whump, treehouse years
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-08
Updated: 2017-12-08
Packaged: 2019-02-11 23:48:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12946698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Takada_Saiko/pseuds/Takada_Saiko
Summary: Pre-series. Set when Willa is around 20 or 21.A badly injured Bobo makes his way to the treehouse as his only safe place to go.





	Stubborn

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kimmins](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kimmins/gifts).



**Stubborn**

The first run in that Bobo had had with the the government organization marked by the black star on their badge had been under Edwin Earp. Wyatt's grandson had aligned with them to help him further his ambitions to kill all seventy-seven Revenants before one got a good shot in at him. It had been an alliance that had quickly become a sore subject for the Revenant leader who had been desperate to keep the delicate balance in their cursed part of the world. There were other ways to break the curse. He'd always been confident of that, but during those months he had had to face the possibility that he wouldn't live long enough to bring it about.

He had met a marshal under the so-called Black Badge division during one of his many sit downs with Edwin. The man had been grim and brooding, with dark eyes that seemed to cut straight through to the soul. Or would have, had there been much left of Bobo's. He'd met that stare evenly and offered a sharp, dangerous grin. He hadn't flinched though, and that's what unsettled him the most.

Edwin had tried to kill him at the end of his tenure as Heir and Bobo was certain that the marshal with the black badge had been the one to take the original shot at him. After Edwin had died he had sent some of his boys to clear out the visiting division and those that had survived the message hadn't come back.

Black Badge, like so much, had drifted to the back of the Revenant's mind. They weren't an immediate threat and his attentions had been diverted to Ward for years. To The Lead. And then _that_ had all gone to hell and Purgatory had gone as quiet as it ever did. The next Heir - tucked away in secret - wasn't of age yet so the Revenants' numbers remained thinned out from Ward's tenure.

So when he ran into a man who had flashed a black star at him in a dark alleyway of Purgatory he'd laughed outright and told the man to run along. He hadn't expected him to have the balls to shoot him.

Bobo stumbled back against the outer wall of the building that lined one side of the alley, hand moving to the source of the pain. It came away bloody and he looked up, a snarl building in his throat as the man leveled the gun to shoot again. "Bobo Del Rey, you are-"

The Revenant flicked his wrist and the gun went flying, startling the man that had been holding it. "What?" Bobo demanded lowly, his voice raspy with the pain that was spreading. The wound might not kill him, but it had ripped a hole in him that wasn't meant to be there, leaving him hurting and _pissed_. "Exactly what was your plan here? Arrest me? You can't kill me."

The Black Badge agent blinked hard, like he was trying to gauge the situation and Bobo straightened, pulling himself up to his full height and pushing the pain aside as best he could. It was temporary. The wound would heal and wouldn't even leave a scar after a while. This night would be nothing more than a blip of a memory for him. It would be this idiot's last though.

Bobo lunged at him and caught him and he hauled him up and off the ground by the collar first, his hands moving to the man's neck as he held him against the building. The movement seemed to spark some sort of reaction - training or maybe just the instinct to fight for his life - and he kicked out, a well placed knee landing hard against the wound and Bobo dropped him, growling out a curse and a threat as he saw red.

The BBD agent moved quickly, taking advantage of the Revenant's distraction, and Bobo didn't even see the knife that he lashed out at him with. He felt it though. It bit into his side. His coat acted as a buffer, but it didn't completely stop the blade from slicing through skin. It stole his breath. He could feel cold metal slipping between ribs and he staggered.

"Wanna bet?" the man asked smugly, pulling his weapon back out and stepping back to strike again. "There's nothing in your file that says you're actually immortal. I'm here to prove you're not. Everything can be killed."

"Only one thing that can kill me," Bobo snarled. He could feel the brand on his back burn with effort as he pulled the knife around. The fool didn't even let go, but that didn't matter. The metal went where the Revenant commanded it to, and it left the agent that might have thought he could earn a name for himself by killing a demon in Purgatory slumped in a dark alleyway with a knife in his throats and a vacant expression in his eyes.

Bobo stumbled a little, the pain spiking as the adrenaline wore. This was not what he'd expected out of the night. He'd been on his way to Shorty's to pick up burgers of all things. In a life like his, it had been such a mundane sort of task, but one he'd actually been looking forward to. A quiet evening without the hounding that always came with the idiots at the trailer park. Now there he was standing over a dead Black Badge agent, blood escaping from two separate wounds, and he had to admit that he may have underestimated the boy.

A grimaced as he pulled his coat back to try to inspect the damage. The dim lighting didn't do him any favours, but he could see dark brown blood spreading across his grey shirt, darkening it as it went. He needed to get out of the alley. The last thing he needed was to pass out there and have some damnable do-gooder try to take him to the hospital. Most of Purgatory worked hard to ignore the curse the town existed under, but doctors liked their questions. No, he needed to lay low and heal.

He moved in a fog, instinct keeping him out of sight until he hit the edge of town. If he'd still been human he wouldn't have made it that far, but somehow his legs managed to stay under him as he left the town's edge and moved into the swan reservoir. He couldn't remember actively deciding to go there, but as snow started to fall around him he found himself standing under the treehouse, his shallow breaths showing in a fog in front of him.

Slowly he made his way up, his fingers numb around the rungs of the ladder and his footing slipped at the top, sending him crashing down to the porch in front of the door. Bobo lay there for a long moment, trembling and hurting. He couldn't pull in enough air to satisfy is body and he felt the panic start to rise. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew he wasn't suffocating, knew that staying calm was the better way to stay conscious, but it felt like someone as forcing him to breathe through a thick sheet. He just couldn't.

"Robert, what the hell-" came the voice from the other side of the door, but the words dropped abruptly as she pulled it open. "Robert?"

A soft moan was all he could manage from where he had curled on the porch, buried inside his coat. Willa's voice was becoming more and more panicked as she bent down, her gloved fingers brushing back the fur on his coat to try to get a good look at his face. "Robert, please. I need you to look at me. You're scaring me."

The words finally sunk in and Bobo forced himself to look up. She was beautiful, the snow falling down around her and those clear eyes of her focused in on him. He couldn't pinpoint when the little girl he'd rescued so many years ago had become a woman, but he knew that he'd been pushing the realization aside for a long while now. Trying to push it off, at any rate. It was difficult with the way he caught her looking at him sometimes, but he was determined not to let it go anywhere. He was her…. he wasn't sure anymore. Captor. Savior. Something. He gave to plenty of his darker impulses, but he had always been wary of this one. He'd promised to protect her, and he wasn't sure that's what he'd be doing if….

"Robert, don't close your eyes. Please, look at me. There you are," she coaxed softly, fear lining her voice, but it was strong and much steadier now. She was taking control of the situation. "I need your help to get you inside, okay?"

He gave the barest of nods and felt her shift her grip in him. He had gone numb as he lay there bleeding on her doorstep, but that wouldn't last. This was going to hurt.

Bobo bit back the sharp cry as he got to his feet, Willa supporting a surprising amount of his weight. She eased one of his arms over her shoulders and wrapped her own around his back under his coat. They took it slow and careful, and he had never been so thankful for such a small place.

"No," he huffed when he realized she was directing him to the bed.

"This really isn't the time to talk about boundaries," she grumbled and he almost laughed, but a soft snort was all that managed to escape him.

"Don't want to bleed all over it," he murmured softly.

"We'll deal with that," she promised and ushered him over anyway.

He sank down onto the mattress, feeling the springs give some under his weight, but she wouldn't let him lie down. She was moving around him, tugging his coat from his shoulders and kneeling to unlaced his boots. "Okay," she said at last and he all but fell back, a soft sound escaping him as he did, but he let her do as she pleased when she lifted his legs to the bed and pulled a thick quilt over them. She had tugged her gloves off at some point, and as she pulled his shirt up to inspect the damage he could feel her cool fingers on his burning skin. "Okay. I can do this. Daddy taught me how to patch people up. I can…." He heard her falter and cracked an eye that he hadn't realized he had closed open. She was taking a steadying breath. "I can do this. I'm going to boil some water. Don't move, don't fall asleep. Why don't you tell me what happened?"

He watched as she moved to the stove and put a pot of water on. The fire had already been lit beneath it for warmth so it wouldn't take too long.

"Robert?" she called, and he blinked hard. Right. She'd asked him a question.

"Ran into someone."

"Really? That's all?" she asked as she dug in a drawer and pulled a cloth from it, dunking it in the water and wringing it out before she approached him. His gaze flickered over to where she had set a few supplies down in a chair already. When had she done that? That wasn't good. He was losing bits of time.

"Black Badge," Bobo managed as she pulled his shirt back up carefully and watched her frown.

"Daddy told me years ago they weren't in Purgatory anymore. He didn't like them."

"They had one here," the Revenant huffed, "and he was a fair aim."

She was as gentle as she could be as she wiped the dried blood away, giving her a better view of the wounds. "Was he trying to kill you?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"Not sure. To say he could, I 'spose." The cloth moved directly over the wound in his side and Bobo jerked away from it.

"Hold still," she snapped.

"Don't go making it worse," he growled, every muscle tensing with the new waves of pain. He could feel the brand burning and with the red tint to the room and the way she had stepped back he would wager that his eyes were glowing by that point. The blood loss mixed with the pain was putting a strain even on him, and he could feel everything that made him what he was struggling to keep him breathing.

"Anyone ever tell you you're an ass when you're hurt?" she grumbled, but he saw the way her fair brows drew together as she finished cleaning the blood away, reaching for her supplies. "How quick do you heal, anyway? Do I… it's been a long time since I've tried to sew up a wound. I don't know…"

"Don't," he grunted. "I'll heal."

She nodded, reaching to put a hand to the side of his face. "You're really warm."

"Body's fightin' to keep me alive," he managed, feeling exhaustion tug on him.

"But you can't die, right? Only Peacemaker-

"Yeah," he cut her off, reaching a clumsy hand up and she found it quickly, tucking her fingers around his eagerly. It felt good to hold onto her, even as everything else seemed to fade around him.

"Robert, you can't close your eyes. _Robert_!"

She sounded like she was down a tunnel, and even though her screams became more frantic they faded into the distance as he sank into darkness. He needed to tell her it would be alright. It wouldn't look alright - he knew what dying felt like and he knew he was losing the fight then - but it would be. It wouldn't stick. But he couldn't. No matter how hard he tried his eyes were slipping closed and he felt himself sinking down, the last thought on his mind that at least he wasn't alone this time.

* * *

Bobo wasn't sure how long he was out for, but when he woke again he heard muffled crying. Funny, Willa rarely cried. She'd mourned her father and her life years before, but she was strong and brave. Tears were a rarity she didn't bother with most of the time. Bobo worked his way up through the layers of darkness and sucked in a deep breath, feeling a jolt a he came around.

"Robert?"

"Yeah," he rasped, grimacing as he did. He was cold. Too cold. He hadn't just passed out.

Willa moved into his line of vision and she looked like she'd been crying for some time. "You stopped breathing," she managed. "You stopped… your heart wasn't beating and you got so cold…. you…"

She looked terrified and Bobo reached a still-shaky hand up. "Hey. I'm okay," he reassured her, his voice gruff. "Ain't no one who could kill me but you."

Willa folded into him and Bobo let her. He tried to keep a distance between them, but right then he didn't think he could have told her no if he'd wanted to. Her hair tickled her nose and her cheek was pressed against his chest. He stroked her dark blonde hair as she listened to the proof that his heart was beating again, struggling not to linger on the idea that they could just… stay like this.

After a moment she tightened her grip and he loosed a small, pained sound. "Still not healed up," he reminded her and she sat up.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. Not your fault."

"Do I-"

"You've taken good care of me," he promised, his lips quirking up in a rare, soft smile. "Better'n anybody else would."

"Yeah, well, something tells me you're a stubborn patient," she grumbled, but she wore a small smile of her own.

"So I've been told."

She reached up, brushing back dark hair, and without warning she leaned forward and pressed a kiss against his forehead.

"Willa…"

"I know, I know." Her eyes broke contact with his. "You keep telling me that I can't love you. That I don't…" She shook her head and he saw the frustration that had built there in the last year or so. "I'm old enough to know, and watching someone die, thinking you'll never get to say anything again, that puts things in perspective." Those clear eyes darted back to hold his and he found he couldn't look away. "I do love you, Robert. It's the reason I didn't want to leave you when you offered. It's the reason I chose to wait until I can take you with me. I've lost too much already, and I _refuse_ to lose you too."

Bobo found himself staring at her, completely unable to argue all the points he stood by as to why being with him was a horrible idea. Why it wasn't fair to her. Why she was…. If the arguments had just worn thin or the blood loss was affecting his reasoning abilities, he didn't fight her when she leaned down and kissed him. To the contrary, he found himself kissing her back, his hand moving to the side of her face and his fingers buried in her hair. He had trouble catching his breath when she pulled away, but it was worth it.

"Stubborn," he rasped and she grinned at him.

"More stubborn than you."

"Mm. I wouldn't say that."

Her smile warmed and he felt the strangest sensation as his arguments of why he shouldn't love her washed away under it. He raised her hand and pressed a kiss to it, lingering there for a long moment with his lips against her knuckles and revelling in the closeness.

Willa leaned forward, her forehead pressed against his. "Tell me I won't lose you, Robert," she said lowly, her voice sending chills up his spine.

"You won't lose me," he swore. "As long as you'll have me."

She nodded, accepting the answer. He watched her pull away from him and tried to crush the feeling of disappointment that came with the distance. His gaze lingered on her as she stood, but then carefully eased herself over him so that she could lie between him and the wall. He didn't protest. He did nestle down into the bed a little deeper though, focusing on the warmth of the woman next to him and the strange sensation of warmth and… safety. It was so foreign to him after having lived amongst his enemies so long, but with Willa he had safety and maybe even happiness someday. He'd make sure of it. If he was going to go down this path, he had to make sure that she was free of this curse same as he was at the end of it.

"I don't want to hear one complaint if I wake you up every ten minutes to make sure you're still breathing," she grumbled sleepily and Bobo smiled, shifting to pull her in just a little closer to his uninjured side as they fell asleep.

* * *

 

Notes: I've been discussing Bobo quite a bit over on Tumblr and got in the mood for some hurt/comfort. Somehow I killed him? That's just sort of been my week. But there was fluffy goodness at the end so please no one hate me? *hides*

Major thanks to [Kimmins](http://archiveofourown.org/users/kimmins/pseuds/kimmins) for helping me decide what I wanted to do with this.


End file.
